Live Review: Ice Cream Hands, Michael Carpenter Two

It's a simple premise: Ice Cream Hands were/are one of the great Australian pop bands. Their turn-of-the-century album Sweeter Than The Radio a glorious thing. Sunday afternoon recital performance of this record? What's not to like? 

As performer and producer Michael Carpenter also knows his way around a tune. The '2' is him in duo mode, with Casey Atkins as foil on second shiny guitar, harmonies and banter. It's a three-quarter-hour history of power pop. Beatles snippets, various familiar riffs — My Sharona! Video Killed The Radio Star? — buzz by among Carpenter's own craftsman-built constructions like Kailee Anne to make the point. Very neat.

You wouldn't meet a nicer bloke in a day's march than Ice Cream Hands leader, Charles Jenkins. He loves (most) of this album's songs like we faithful who've dragged ourselves away from watching the footy. Fellow originals, the smiley Derek G Smiley on drums and bassist Douglas Lee Robertson are minus "off fishing somewhere" guitarist Marcus Goodwin, but hired Hand ("I texted asking if he wanted to play Sweeter [Than The Radio]... and a millisecond later he replied 'FUCK YEAH!'") is that Davey Lane kid, moonlighting from You Am I, and ripping out the guitar lines like the fan he obviously is.

The songs are gems — "We got five singles off it, just like Thriller," Jenkins jokes — and go from big beat blasts like those on the joyous Picture Disc From The Benelux, to the odd guilt of Nipple. But then there's Spirit Level Windowsill, Yellow And Blue, the moodier Gasworks Park — all delivered with the enthusiasm of blokes having a good time, and wanting an audience in on it.

Crowd bounces out smiling, and this scribe wouldn't be the only one putting said album on when they got home. Top arvo out.